Jeff Ayres Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Matthews, Parsons, Griffin

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:31am CST by Chuck Myron

Wesley Matthews was angry but not surprised when the Trail Blazers didn’t offer him a chance to return this past summer, as he explained to Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. It worked out for Matthews, who landed a max contract from the Mavericks, and for C.J. McCollum, who’s affirmed Portland’s faith in him as he’s stepped seamlessly into Matthews’ old job as the Blazers’ starting two-guard. “I don’t blame them for doing what they did, by any means,” Matthews said. “That’s the hand they wanted to play. That’s fine. I’m not bitter, and I didn’t mean for anything to come out like I was bitter. Just would have liked a phone call. Hey, [Blazers GM Neil Olshey] could have texted me. But they’ve got a nice thing going there with [Damian Lillard] and C.J.”

See more on another Dallas wing player amid news from the Western Conference:

It’s conceivable that Chandler Parsons will play again this season for the Mavericks even if he does undergo surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee, reports Schuyler Dixon of The Associated Press. Parsons is reportedly getting a second opinion before having the procedure, but he’d be able to resume basketball activities within six weeks of having the operation, Dixon hears, meaning it’s conceivable he returns during the playoffs, which begin April 16th. It’s no certainty the Mavs qualify for the postseason, however. They’re one game up on the Jazz for the last playoff spot in the West.
Doc Rivers won’t rule out the possibility of Blake Griffin missing the rest of the regular season, but he’s confident that he’ll be back in game action within the next three weeks before the regular season ends, observes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Griffin will have to serve a four-game suspension once he’s healthy enough to play. The Clippers signed Jeff Ayres for the rest of the season last week.
James Anderson has been frustrated sitting on the bench for long stretches this season with the Kings, even though coach George Karl acknowledges he’s probably the team’s best defender, but the swingman is seeing more playing time of late, notes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Anderson has to decide on a minimum-salary player option for next season.

Pacific Notes: Lieberman, Ayres, Clarkson, Booker

March 17th, 2016 at 9:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

George Karl has unofficially exiled Kings assistant coach Nancy Lieberman because Karl views her as a confidante to owner Vivek Ranadive, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. That’s created an extra plot twist with the Karl-DeMarcus Cousins saga because Ranadive has been loyal to Cousins and the mercurial center can’t help but notice the in-fighting among the staff, Amick adds. The Kings deny that Lieberman has Ranadive’s ear or that Karl has pushed her to the background, sources indicated to NBCSports.com’s Dan Feldman, though Feldman notes that Amick is well connected and has reported out of Sacramento for many years.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Power forward Jeff Ayres is relieved he can settle into one place now that the Clippers have signed him for the remainder of the season, Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com reports. The power forward, who played under two 10-day contracts with the Clippers earlier this season, played two games for the D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders after being traded from Boise before the Clippers came calling again. “I was telling somebody this morning, I’ve been living out of my suitcase – like really living out of a suitcase,” Ayres told Kavner.
Lakers coach Byron Scott isn’t concerned about Jordan Clarkson‘s shooting slump, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register writes. The second-year shooting guard has averaged 9.7 points, shot 29.5% from the field and made just two of 17 3-point attempts over the past three games. “I don’t put a whole lot of stock into it,” Scott told Oram and other members of the media. “You’re going to have stretches of this season, which is a long season, where you’re going to have some bad games.”
Rookie shooting guard Devin Booker is being groomed as the Suns‘ go-to player at the end of games, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Interim head coach Earl Watson is putting the ball in his hands during those situations to see how he responds, as Watson relayed to Coro. “Devin has to learn how to finish games at the elbow like Kobe Bryant,” Watson said. “He knows that. We talked about that. That’s the progression of him finishing games.”

Clippers Sign Jeff Ayres For Rest Of Season

March 16th, 2016 at 3:27pm CST by Chuck Myron

WEDNESDAY, 3:27pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

TUESDAY, 1:57pm: The Clippers will sign Jeff Ayres to a contract that covers the rest of the season, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Grizzlies had reportedly been eyeing the veteran big man following the expiration of his second 10-day contract with the Clips, but instead L.A. and Ayres are apparently circling back to one another for the balance of 2015/16. It’ll have to be a prorated minimum-salary deal, since that’s all the Clippers can hand out.

Ayres, 28, appeared for just 14 total minutes spread over five games with the Clips on his pair of 10-day deals, which he signed January 23rd and February 2nd. L.A. later turned to rookie Alex Stepheson, who also signed two 10-day contracts with the team, the last of which ran to term last week. Memphis snapped him up the next day, furthering the idea that the Clippers and Grizzlies, who would meet in the first round of the playoffs if they started today, are trolling the same free agent waters. The teams also pulled off a deadline-day swap, exchanging Lance Stephenson and Jeff Green.

A roster spot is open for the Clippers, who won’t have to make a corresponding move to usher Ayres back onto the team. Just how much he’ll make depends on when he signs, but, as a veteran of five previous NBA seasons, he’d get $194,224 if the deal becomes official today. The Clippers would only have to pay him $167,166, with the league picking up the tab for the difference, but the Clips are above the tax threshold, so the signing would add $417,915 to their projected tax bill.

Stepheson, who’d make less money based on his lack of experience, would have been a cheaper option for the Clippers, but Ayres gives the team some veteran know-how, particularly about the Spurs, a potential playoff opponent who had Ayres on their roster for the two seasons prior to this one. He averaged 13.0 minutes per game and made 10 starts for the title-winning 2013/14 San Antonio team.

Grizzlies Eye Jeff Ayres, Others

March 7th, 2016 at 4:11pm CST by Chuck Myron

4:11pm: Andersen is out for at least another three to five days, and Mike Conley is also set to miss that amount of time with a sore left foot, the Grizzlies announced.

1:05pm: The Grizzlies are looking for depth amid a rash of injuries, with recent Clippers 10-day signee Jeff Ayres among their big man targets, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Memphis is without Marc Gasol for the rest of the year and backup center Brandan Wright is liable to miss another seven weeks, which would finish him for the season. Fellow big man Chris Andersen is dealing with a shoulder issue that has him questionable to play tonight while Tony Allen and Jordan Adams are out indefinitely with knee injuries.

Memphis doesn’t have an open roster spot, but if doctors determine four or more players are likely to miss two weeks or more, the team could apply to the NBA for a hardship provision to sign a 16th man. Chris Herrington of The Commercial Appeal suggests that’s precisely what the Grizzlies have in mind (Twitter link).

Ayres, formerly known as Jeff Pendergraph, scored six points and pulled down three rebounds in 14 minutes total minutes over five appearances with the Clippers on a pair of 10-day contracts earlier this year. The 28-year-old has otherwise been out of the NBA this season following the expiration of a two-year deal with the Spurs. The sixth-year NBA veteran has spent most of his time this year in the D-League, recently having joined the D-League affiliate of the Lakers following a trade that took him from the Jazz affiliate, which picked him first overall in this year’s D-League draft.

Western Notes: Morris, Ayres, Stephenson

February 19th, 2016 at 8:46pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Suns GM Ryan McDonough believes the trade that sent Markieff Morris to the Wizards will allow both sides to have a new start, Bob Baum of The Associated Press relays. “I think Markieff will play well in Washington but I think for all parties involved it was time for a fresh start,” McDonough said. “I think this trade hopefully will bring a breath of fresh air into our organization.” The executive also noted that he was extremely pleased with the protected first rounder Phoenix acquired from Washington in the swap, Baum adds. “We feel good about it,” McDonough continued. “Anytime you’re able to acquire a draft pick that has a chance to be late lottery or mid-first round for a player that probably wasn’t fitting in as well as he could have, we view that as a positive outcome for the franchise.”

Here’s more from out West:

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace is intrigued with deadline acquisition Lance Stephenson and believes the swingman is still growing as a player, Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal relays. “Lance is a guy who got a significant free agent contract from Charlotte based on how well he played in Indiana two years ago,” Wallace said. “He is a very tough, versatile player who can handle the ball and guard multiple positions. He’s got every reason to be very motivated and help us. He was one of the best shooters coming into the [2010] draft. He’s a young guy who the book hasn’t been written on.”
The Clippers acquired Jeff Green with the intention of using his Bird rights to re-sign him in the offseason, and Green, while saying that he’s still adjusting in the immediate wake of Thursday’s trade, can envision a long-term fit in L.A., observes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter links).
The Rockets have assigned rookie combo forward Sam Dekker to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Dekker’s second trek to Rio Grande Valley, though he was injured during his first stint with the Vipers and he did not see any game action as a result.
The Thunder have assigned Mitch McGary to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be the center’s sixth stint with the Blue on the season.
Center Jeff Ayres, whose second 10-day deal with the Clippers expired last week, has rejoined the the Idaho Stampede, the Jazz’s D-League affiliate, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor tweets.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Colangelo, Tavares, Durant

February 12th, 2016 at 10:25pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Sixers executive Jerry Colangelo indicated that the franchise may take a page out of the Warriors‘ organizational playbook and add more voices to their front office, Kurt Helin of NBCSports.com relays. “[Golden State] proves the point,” Colangelo told reporters today. “If you have the right mix of people you can have a collaborative effort because people respect one another, and usually that comes from people who have had experience, who’ve been around the track. You add all of that to the mix and it could work.”

“I think that any time you have an opportunity to enhance your organization, and you bring people in to accomplish that, you consider it. Big time. You really do,” Colangelo continued. “And I think in our case we have a very bright young guy in [GM] Sam Hinkie, who holds the title of president and GM, and in his space he’s really strong. One could build a case for saying you’d like to have more people added who have experience in other aspects of those jobs. That’s the kind of conversation that’s going on. “

Here’s more from around the league:

The Thunder haven’t given any consideration to trading small forward Kevin Durant, who will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, prior to next week’s deadline despite the uncertainty that revolves around his future, Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports relays. “I never thought about that at all,” Durant said about being dealt by OKC. “I don’t know, man. I don’t want to be moved. I want to finish this thing out with my team. I think we got a really good thing going right now, so I haven’t really thought about it. We never talk about that stuff, me, [GM] Sam Presti, our assistant GM [Troy Weaver]. It’s always about how I can be better for my teammates and with my leadership skills.”
Jeff Ayres‘ second 10-day deal with the Clippers expired Thursday night, so he became a free agent. Teams are only permitted to ink any single player to a total of two 10-day pacts per season, and if Los Angeles wishes to retain Ayres, it would have to sign him for the remainder of the season. The Clippers’ roster count now stands at 14 players.
The Hawks have recalled center Edy Tavares from the Spurs‘ D-League affiliate where he had been sent as part of the flexible assignment rule, Atlanta announced via press release. Tavares has averaged 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 21.1 minutes during his seven D-League assignments this season.

Clippers Sign Jeff Ayres To Second 10-Day Deal

February 2nd, 2016 at 5:18pm CST by ChrisCrouse

TUESDAY, 5:18pm: The signing is official, the team announced.

SUNDAY, 12:52pm: The Clippers will sign Jeff Ayres to a second 10-day deal, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link). The Arizona State product will cost the Clippers $55,722 in payroll over the length of this deal. The 28-year-old played in two games for Los Angeles during his first 10-day stint with the team, tallying just seven minutes of action.

Ayres filled the roster spot left vacant by Josh Smith after Smith was dealt to the Rockets and with the latest report on Blake Griffin‘s hand sounding pessimistic, Los Angeles has a need for an additional big man. Coach/executive Doc Rivers told reporters last week that Griffin’s timetable of returning in four to six weeks was unrealistic.

Ayres was having an excellent season with the Idaho Stampede before signing with the Clippers, notching a D-League All-Star selection in the process. However, he won’t be eligible to participate in the festivities unless he’s in the D-League at the time of the February 13th game.

Blake Griffin Breaks Hand, Expected Out 4-6 Weeks

January 26th, 2016 at 5:12pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:12pm: Rivers told reporters that expectations of Griffin returning to game action in four to six weeks were unrealistic, Woike tweets. The coach/executive did not provide a timetable that he felt was more appropriate for the power forward to make his return.

3:04pm: It’ll take approximately four to six weeks for Griffin to recover, the team confirmed via press release, adding that he suffered the broken hand Saturday and had surgery today. The statement, co-signed by owner Steve Ballmer and coach/executive Doc Rivers, didn’t mince words.

“This conduct has no place in our organization and this incident does not represent who are as a team,” the statement reads. “We are conducting a full investigation with assistance from the NBA. At the conclusion of the investigation, appropriate action will be taken.”

1:51pm: Griffin is at least four to six weeks away from returning, two sources tell USA Today’s Sam Amick. The equipment manager whom Griffin reportedly hit, Mathias Testi, has been a close friend of the power forward for years, Amick writes.

1:23pm: The hand is indeed broken, and the early timetable for his recovery is four to six weeks, sources tell Woike (Twitter link).

10:15am: The injury occurred when Griffin hit a member of the Clippers equipment staff multiple times, according to ESPN’s Michael Eaves (Twitter links).

10:03am: Griffin was involved in an off-court incident with a Clippers staff member, a source told Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Woike doesn’t say whether that caused the injury, though Stein and Shelburne wrote in their story that the fracture happened in an “undisclosed team-related incident.”

7:58am: Blake Griffin is expected to remain out for “a matter of weeks, as opposed to days” after suffering what is suspected to be a fracture in his right (shooting) hand, report Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. Griffin had previously been expected to return to game action tonight from the quadriceps injury that had kept him out the past month, as Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times said to Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk in a recent podcast. It’s unclear whether it’s the team that suspects the fracture, and, according to Stein and Shelburne, the Clippers are still trying to determine the severity of the injury, but a broken shooting hand would almost certainly sideline the star power forward for a significant length of time.

The Clippers wouldn’t have the ability to apply for a disabled player exception, since the deadline to do so passed earlier this month, and their injuries aren’t widespread enough to warrant a hardship exception for a 16th roster spot. The team has gone 11-3 since Griffin last played, on Christmas, but nine of those wins have come against teams with losing records, as Stein and Shelburne point out.

A continued absence of Griffin for the long term would be a massive blow to the Clippers, who sit in fourth place in the Western Conference. They traded fellow power forward Josh Smith to the Rockets last week but signed big man Jeff Ayres to a 10-day contract, filling the roster spot that the swap opened. The team is otherwise thin up front, with DeAndre Jordan, Cole Aldrich, the undersized Luc Mbah a Moute and Paul Pierce, and rookie Branden Dawson the only other healthy bigs.

Texas Notes: Smith, Lawson, Mejri, Ayres

January 23rd, 2016 at 10:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Josh Smith made an immediate impact for the Rockets after Friday’s trade, and Dwight Howard tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle that he’s happy to have his childhood friend back on the team. Smith flew to Houston immediately after the deal was announced, then had six assists, five rebounds and three blocks in a win over the Bucks. “I thought that me and him together in the playoffs was key,” Howard said. “I thought we really had great chemistry on both ends of the floor. All of us have a crazy type of relationship, especially me and Josh. He’s happy. We’re happy he’s back. We’ll see how it works. I think it’s going to be great.”

There’s more NBA news out of Texas:

Ty Lawson has been playing better, but Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t ready to make him a starter, writes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. Patrick Beverley has been out of action with a sprained ankle, and Bickerstaff said he will remain in the starting lineup when he returns. “People will earn their minutes,” Bickerstaff said. “So both of them want to play obviously, there’s minutes there for both of them. Whoever is playing the best is going to get those minutes and I think that’s the right thing for the team.” It’s a decision that could affect the long-term future for Lawson, whose $13.2MM salary is non-guaranteed for next season.
Salah Mejri may be earning more court time with the Mavericks, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News. The Tunisian center went through a 31-game stretch without playing earlier this season, but he’s impressed the team lately with his defensive presence. “I don’t hesitate to call anybody’s number on our roster,” said coach Rick Carlisle. “Everybody’s played when it counts. He’s one guy that’s been kind of an odd man out because of our depth at center. … He’s making a case that he deserves some minutes.”
Jeff Ayres, who signed a 10-day deal with the Clippers today, said he understood the Spurs‘ decision not to keep him, tweets Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times. Ayres said San Antonio explained that there was no room for him after signing free agent David West. “There’s no animosity or anything like that,” Ayres said of coach/president Gregg Popovich. “I understand the business and appreciate how honest he was.” (Twitter link)

Clippers Rumors: Ayres, Smith, Aldrich, Prigioni

January 23rd, 2016 at 7:35pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jeff Ayres‘ trip back to the NBA took him to China and then Idaho in the D-League before he signed a 10-day deal with the Clippers, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. After being let go by the Spurs in the offseason, the center/forward signed with a Chinese team, but said it “ended up not working out.” He was taken with the first overall pick in the D-League draft and became a star with the Idaho Stampede, averaging 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. “It’s not what people think, that everybody here isn’t very good,” Ayres said. “A lot of D-League guys are very good. D-League is full of talent. Everything you hear as a rookie in the NBA about, ‘You were the man when you were in college but not no more here.’ It’s the same thing here.”

There’s more Clippers new from Los Angeles:

Ayres is ready to accept whatever role the team has for him, tweets Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times. Ayres said his agent woke him up with the news of the signing (Twitter link). “I was halfway asleep,” Ayres said. “It was awesome. It was great news to wake up to.”
Coach Doc Rivers had nothing bad to say about Josh Smith, who was dealt to the Rockets Friday after a frustrating half-season with the Clippers, writes Rowan Kavner of NBA.com. Rivers said that after Blake Griffin‘s injury, the Clippers started winning when they made Cole Aldrich and Pablo Prigioni regular members of the bench rotation. That left little playing time for Smith, who has struggled to get minutes since mid-December. “He was very good, a good teammate and all that, but it just didn’t work,” Rivers said of Smith. “So we wanted to go in another direction.”
Several former Knicks have helped make the Clippers contenders in the West, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Aldrich, Prigioni and Jamal Crawford have all become important parts of L.A.’s rotation after spending time in New York, and former Knicks coach Mike Woodson serves as an assistant to Rivers.